Darcy or Family
by Exotos135
Summary: Lisa comes to a tough choice when her decision to not tutor her siblings as often as she used to, causes them to become suspicious and curious as to why she chose to do that.
1. Chapter 1

At the second floor of the Loud house, Lisa was speaking to the rest of her siblings, who seemed to be baffled by what she was saying as usual.

"And so, that's the basic reasoning behind my decision to focus more on my brand new less intellectual friend over helping you with all these things that you need help with, which by normal definition you should be able to do on your own already," the prodigy finished with a stern tone.

The rest of the prodigy's siblings stood in utter confusion.

"I'm going to focus more on Darcy and less on tutoring you."

The Louds went "oh" as they realized what it meant... then their jaws dropped when they realized what it also meant.

"Lisa, what made you decide to do something so... outrageous?!" Lynn snapped, before raising an eyebrow. "Is that the right word? Am I using the right word?"

"Seeing how you're making the situation seem worse than it actually is, then yes, the word "outrageous" would be the appropriate word to use," Lisa adjusted her glasses. "And as for why I decided to do this... well, that's something none of you would understand. If you can't even understand half of the "big words" that I use often, why should I think you would be able to understand my reasoning behind my decision?"

"You should at least try to explain yourself!" Lola whined.

"Just like how I've tried to explain each of the things you need help with every single time, only for you to learn nothing?" the prodigy pointed out, raising an angry eyebrow. "I'm wasting my time talking with you, I have to get ready to go to Darcy's house."

Lisa went to her and Lily's bedroom, and once she was out of sight, the sisters immediately begun getting worried, or crying, in the case of some of the younger ones. Lincoln? He stood nearby, surprised at how badly the girls were taking it.

"Gosh dang it, Lisa!" Lynn growled, punching the wall next to her.

"How could she do this to me?!" Lola cried, flailing her arms up and down dramatically.

"Don't you mean us?" Lana corrected, getting the diva to stop crying for a moment. "You're not the only one who won't get Lisa to tutor her as often as she used to, you know?"

Lola sniffed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Come on, girls, be a bit more positive about this, okay?" Lincoln said, catching his sisters' attention. "Yeah, I'm also upset at the fact that Lisa won't be tutoring us as often as she used to, but do I look like I'm utterly devastated about it?"

"Of course not, dude, but that's because you're fairly smart already," Luna replied with a downbeat tone. "But Lisa... well, she's brainy and hip, and she goes to those shows, and she puts people down, and we wanna know, what made her so smart?"

"Translation: You're smart, so you're good, but Lisa's smarter than all of us together," Lori explained. "If she literally doesn't help us as often as she does anymore, who knows what could happen!"

"Well, just try to learn how to live with it?" Lincoln suggested. "After all, I learned how to live with ten sisters!"

"That took years for you to learn, Lincoln, and yet you, like, still encounter problems every once in a while," Leni pointed out with worry. "Do you know how hard it's going to be to adjust to a life where Lisa doesn't tutor us or anything? It's going to be a nightmare!"

The white-haired guy rolled his eyes. "Fine, how about I go talk to her?"

The girls chirped up and nodded, prompting Lincoln to sigh and eventually walk into Lily and Lisa's bedroom, where Lisa was putting some thing on a backpack, presumably what she would bring to her visit to her friend's house.

"Hi Lisa," the boy quietly greeted, trying to neither startle Lisa or wake up Lily. "Packing up for your visit?"

"Yes, and before you ask, I'm making sure not to bring any dangerous chemicals or my chemistry set into this backpack," Lisa bitterly pointed out, focusing solely on her backpack. "You and the rest of our siblings may think that I'm just a stereotypical genius prodigy, and that I'm happy with that perception, but I know how dangerous it would be if I brought such things to Darcy's house."

"Huh, good to know," Lincoln walked closer to Lisa. "So-"

"I know why you're here," the prodigy sternly interrupted, making Lincoln's heart skip a beat. "We just came out of me telling you and my sisters about my plan to tutor you a little bit less often, and now you come to my room? Whatever reason you may have to go here, it has to do with that incident, doesn't it?"

Seeing he was basically caught, Lincoln took a deep breath and explained:

"Listen, Lisa, I understand why you would want to be our tutor a bit less often. Heck, I was even willing to guess that it was... inevitable. But, just telling us you're not going to tutor us anymore, say it has something to do with Darcy, and leaving it at that does nothing but make our sisters wonder why? And so, I wanted to see if you would be willing to tell me your reason for what you're doing? So I have some idea of what you were trying to say? I wouldn't tell anybody, I promise!"

Lisa finished packing up, and sighed, seemingly realizing something.

"Well, when you put it like that, I probably should've given more thought to my words before I said anything," Lisa put on the backpack and let out a chuckle. "How ironic, I can get my point across when I'm doing college talks, and yet I can't do the same to explain a very simple point to my family. Kinda sad, too. Anyway, as for your proposal..."

The scientist looked at her brother's wide smile and reassuring look, a look that made him look like the most trustworthy person around. And knowing how her other sisters could be, and how Lily wasn't available right now, he really was just that. However, her answer was blunt:

"I'm sorry, Lincoln, but I'm afraid I can't do that. Knowing our sisters, _they_ most likely brought you here under the false belief that I would blindly tell you my reason for not tutoring them anymore, all because they couldn't be bothered to ask themselves, or 'cause they already knew it would end in failure. And even if you do agree to keep it a secret, they would just guilt trip you into telling them anyway, so no, I'm not telling you anything about my reasoning for my decision."

Suddenly, the duo heard a car honk.

"Now if you excuse me, it seems that mom and dad are ready to drive me to Darcy's house. Farewell, brother, see you in a couple hours."

And as the young scientist walked out of the room with a backpack in hand, or back in this case, Lincoln couldn't help but ponder one worrying question:

What are his sisters going to do about this?


	2. Chapter 2

The boy left the bedroom, and soon noticed that his sisters weren't around in the hallway. So he went downstairs, and saw that they were at the living room, looking through the front window to see Lisa leave with the parents on their car. Once he saw this, he tried to sneak his way back to his room, and try to forget this ever happened.

"Lincoln, come here."

Those words, spoken by Lori, were enough to get the boy to stop and hesitantly walk downstairs and to the living room, where he got looks from all his sisters. However, while some of them looked angry, like Lola and Lynn, the others either looked confused, like Lana and Luan, or worried, like Leni and Luna.

"Sit down."

The boy obliged at Lori's command, and the rest of the sisters sat down as well, before Luna asked:

"What happened between you and Lisa, dude?"

"Yeah, she just, like, told us that you both spoke and left in a hurry," Leni clasped her hands. "I thought you were going to convince her to either stay or tell us why she's not going to, like, tutor us anymore or something."

"That's the thing: I tried to talk to her about it," Lincoln sighed. "But Lisa's too smart: She figured out that even if I promised her to keep it a secret, you guys would just make me tell you eventually, so she packed her stuff and left without giving me anything, not even a hint."

"Well, what do we do now?" Lana asked, turning her eyes to Lincoln. "You got any plans, Lincoln?"

"I'm not sure, girls, maybe we should just leave Lisa alone?" Lincoln suggested, earning angered looks from the girls. "I know you want answers, but with how Lisa spoke to me a while ago, I get the feeling she's upset about something, and... I don't know, I just get the feeling that if we try to dig deeper into this thing, it'll only get worse."

"So what? We're just literally going to stand here and do nothing?!" Lori snapped, standing up. "Lisa just told us to our faces that she's not going to tutor us as often as she used to, all to spend some more time with a friend of hers, without even explaining it in a way we could understand?!"

"To be fair, that could have been our fault-" Luan said, trying to be positive about the situation.

"Luan, she used several big words I don't think mom or dad even know about!" Lori sternly pointed out, before pounding her fists. "If she's not even going to bother to explain herself, then we're not even going to bother to leave her alone either! I say we go to the vanzilla, or whatever car's left in the house, and go to confront her at her friend's house!"

"L-Lori, hold it right there!" Lincoln shouted, getting her attention. "Look, I want answers as much as you girls, but don't you think your idea's a bit too... much?"

"Okay, how about Lincoln, like, goes instead?" Leni suggested. "After all, he's the only one of us who's okay with Lisa not tutoring us as often anymore, so he wouldn't, like, hold that grudge against her."

A momento of silence passed, with the sisters looking at Leni with incredulous looks, with the silence being shattered when Lynn grabbed Lincoln by the neck of the shirt and snapped:

"You see the kind of stuff that'll happen if Lisa tutors us less?! People like Leni may end up spitting out decent ideas, which is not the natural order of things!"

The jock turned to the fashionista. "No offense, Leni."

"Like, what's being offended?" the girl asked, tilting her head to the right.

"Natural order or not, Leni's right, Lincoln's literally the best choice to go talk to Lisa," Lori remarked, folding her arms. "If anybody else did it, we'd probably mess it up somehow and give away our intentions, but Lincoln can keep it hidden, and earn Lisa's attention quite easily!"

"I still think it's better to just leave Lisa alone and try to get used to her not tutoring us as often anymore," Lincoln suggested, earning looks from his other sisters. "We just need to put some effort into it, and we'll be okay with it in no time at all!"

"Sorry, Lincoln, but some of us just can't take the chance," Lola answered. "How else am I going to learn how to read?!"

"I could teach you," Lana said.

Lola remained in silence for a moment, then added, "How else am I going to learn how to read, without potentially being tricked by my teacher?!"

"You're going to go see Lisa at her friend's house and that's final!" Lori snapped at Lincoln. "Now come on, everybody, let's go to that house...wherever it is."

 _Sometime later..._

Lincoln and his remaining sisters stopped close to a Green, two-floor house, with Leni being the only one who didn't look too exhausted or exasperated. Then again, Leni being Leni, she probably wouldn't know what those things were anyway.

"Do you think this is, like, Lisa's friend's house?" Leni asked, tilting her head to the left.

"You've asked that at every house we've been to for the last hour or so," Lori complained. "If this turns out to be another literally dead-end, we might as well call it a day and go back home."

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Wow, that's the first logical thing you've said this day."

"Haha, good one, Lincoln!" Luan winked and gave her brother a thumbs up.

The siblings took a quick look inside, and saw Lisa and Darcy sitting on the couch, watching television together. Upon seeing this, the sisters all hid in a bush nearby and Lincoln walked to the door. He knocked the door three times, and after a couple seconds, Lisa opened the door with a wide smile.

"Hello, Lisa," Lincoln nervously greeted.

A couple seconds passed with Lisa's smile slowly turning into an angry frown once she realized who she was looking at. And of course, she tried to slam the door shut, but Lincoln managed to grab the door just before it closed and kept Lisa from fully closing it.

Who knew an 11 year old boy could overpower a 4 year old girl so easily?!

"Lisa, listen, I know you may think that I'm here by order of our sisters, and I am, but I need to talk with you!" Lincoln exclaimed, trying to get through Lisa's stoic exterior. "It's important!"

"And the visit to Darcy's house is important to me, but it's not like any of you care!" Lisa retorted, slowly overpowering her brother. "All you want me is to waste hours of my precious time tutoring you like I've always done!"

Lincoln, however, quickly got the upper hand. "You never voiced your complaints about that before!"

"Because the first rule of tutoring, is to never say anything that will fall on deaf ears!" the prodigy snapped. "And if there's one thing I've learned during all those tutoring sessions, is that our sisters have the deafest ears I've ever seen! Now leave me alone!"

Unfortunately, the shouting between the siblings didn't go unnoticed, as it wasn't long before a certain someone showed up. This certain someone was none other than the Loud matriarch, Rita Loud.

"Lisa, why are you shouting? I could hear it from the-" then she noticed her only son. "Lincoln Loud, what are you doing here?!"

"Um, it's not what you think, mom!" Lincoln replied, scratching the back of his head. "My sisters needed to find out why Lisa couldn't tutor them as often as she did anymore-"

"And they couldn't even be bothered to ask her themselves?" Rita scanned her surroundings. "Where the heck are your sisters?!"

"Hiding in the bush over there."

The girls came out of the bush, and Rita narrowed her eyes as she hissed:

"Well, until you understand that you can't have your brother do your dirty work for you, all of you are grounded, now go back home!" the Loud matriarch snapped. "And you, Lincoln, go back home too, and if you even think about doing your sister's dirty work again, then all of you will be grounded with no chocolate, ice cream, or any dessert for an entire month!"

The Louds gasped in shock and horror, even Lisa!

"Mom, that's literally completely irrational!" Lori exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh right, because sending your brother to get the answers you were seeking, while following him through the bushes, during an event that was important to Lisa to boot, instead of doing the more sensible thing and wait until Lisa came back home to ask her clearly shows you know how being rational works," the woman growled before cracking her knuckles. "Go back home right this instant, or I'm putting on play my previous threat immediately!"

With her words having been made clear, Lincoln and the other sisters walked back home with saddened looks on their eyes, with Lisa and Rita standing outside just long enough to see them leave.

"Well, at least you tried, Lincoln," Luan remarked, trying to sound positive.

"Yeah, but he didn't try hard enough!" Lola snapped. "All he had to do was get Lisa's attention and get an explanation, but-"

"But we thought Lisa was too stupid to know any better," Luna retorted, getting everybody's attention. "After he tried and failed to get answers from her back in the house, we should've known it wouldn't work a second time."

 _Meanwhile, back inside Darcy's house..._

"I'm sorry you had to see that, sweetheart," Rita said as she guided Lisa back to the couch. "But I simply had to stand my ground, or else your siblings wouldn't get it."

"They're that stubborn, aren't they?" Lisa frowned.

"Absolutely. In fact, they're possibly even worse," Rita sighed. "And the worst part of it is, I think they got it from my side of the family. My relatives have a very bad habit of being incredibly stubborn when it came to their ideas, or obtaining any answer they desired. So, I had to learn from my mother how to stand my ground and show I was the boss, otherwise... it wouldn't have worked."

Lisa sat on the couch, and noticing how Darcy was distracted by the show, she took the chance to whisper to her mother:

"Mother, can you teach me how to stand my ground? I got some things to tell my siblings."


	3. Chapter 3

_Sometime later, at Rita's car..._

Lisa sat on the back seat as her mother drove back to the Loud house, a place that wasn't exactly where Lisa would like to go right now. First, her sisters sent Lincoln to try and get her reason for why she wouldn't tutor anymore. Then, they send him again, right outside the door, and this time it caught the attention of the matriarch Rita Loud, who snapped at her siblings to go back home and wait for her return.

While this did manage to let Lisa enjoy her visit to Darcy's house all the better, it didn't change the fact that once they came back home, her siblings would swarm her with questions. Well, her sisters would, anyway.

Then again, she did learn how to stand her ground from her mother...

 _Flashback..._

Lisa and Rita sat on the living room, while Darcy and her mother went upstairs.

"Now, Lisa, the secret to knowing how to get your message across, is to make sure there's no way that the receptor, that's the one who's receiving the message, can misinterpret it," the Loud matriarch told the prodigy, who listened carefully. "You must make sure you know what you want to say, otherwise you'll stumble in your words, and it won't work."

"Mother unit, I'm aware that you and father unit are supposed to be "Experienced" in this regard," Lisa remarked. "But are you forgetting that in general, I'm not the most emotional of my siblings? Sure, I'm not as stoic as Lucy, but-"

"Lisa, take it from somebody who's had to deal with your sisters-and Lincoln-since they were babies," Rita put a hand on Lisa's shoulder. "You, like everybody else, has the ability to be emotional. And unless you send the message with a loud tone of voice, and do it in the most emotional way you can, they won't get it, and they won't learn anything. Do you understand?"

The prodigy took a second to think about it, then took a deep breath before confirming with a nod.

"Yes, mom."

 _Back in the present..._

But somehow, the prodigy had a feeling... that it simply wouldn't be enough. And she had reason to doubt it; After all, she had enough experience with her siblings to know how they'd act in this kind of situation. And it didn't help that once they had arrived back at the house, the first thing Lisa saw was her sisters sitting in the living room, with Lincoln sitting at the staircase with a worried look.

"Take a seat, Lisa," Lori sternly stated. "There are some things we need to talk about."

Lisa exchanged a look with Rita, who closed the door and gestured Lisa not to worry. So the prodigy sat down right where she was.

"Lisa, nobody here is angry with _you_ ," Leni started, trying to keep up a positive tone. "We're just, like, upset that-"

"You just up and left without telling us a reason for why you wouldn't tutor us anymore!" Lori suddenly yelled, causing Leni to shut up and shrink in fear. "I mean seriously, you just told us you weren't going to tutor any of us anymore, and then you left it at that! And you didn't even tell Lincoln anything about it, and he's supposed to be the guy everybody can trust with their secrets!"

"And now that she mentions that, something else confuses us," Lynn added, getting everybody's attention. "You not trusting us upsets us, but we get it, sort of, but why wouldn't you tell Lincoln anything, if he's the most trustworthy secret keeper in the house?"

"Because I knew you would force him to tell you whatever I told him, and I didn't want any of you to get involved," Lisa bitterly growled and looked away as she continued. "You all should've noticed by now how all of us tend to get involved in one sister's situation, regardless of whether or not they desire the help. And I didn't want that to happen again."

"But didn't you think that just telling us you wouldn't tutor us anymore, rather than tell us and explain why, would make that happen anyway?" Lynn sternly questioned, folding her arms as Lisa started to shake. "I mean, you're supposed to be the genius of the family!"

That statement caused Lisa to snap:

"Then maybe I don't wanna be the genius of the family anymore!"

This shout caused everybody in the room to gasp, with the sisters taking a step back in disbelief, and Rita's shocked look soon turning into a proud one.

"Lisa, what are you, like, talking about?" Leni inquired, with evident fear in her tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that maybe I don't want to be seen as the genius of the house anymore! Maybe I just want to try living life, like a normal toddler, for once!" Lisa flailed her arms up and down. "And most importantly, maybe I don't want to let myself be used, by my moronic sisters, just to tutor them on stuff they should already know!"

The sisters gasped again, while Lincoln slightly backed away, feeling like he should get out of there, but still desiring to see what would happen next.

"What did you literally call us?!" Lori snapped, gritting her teeth.

"And not only are you morons, but you're also deaf, apparently!" Lisa snapped, stomping the ground. "I called you morons, and I had a much harsher word in mind! And I call you morons, because I can't think of a better word to describe the sort of sisters you are! I mean, you rely on me to tutor you on everything!"

And then, Lisa pointed at her princess-like sibling, Lola.

"Lola, you still don't know how to read! And while I do understand you have difficulty reading, the fact you don't even try to learn... I don't get it!" the prodigy ranted, causing the diva to rub her arm and turn away. "I mean, what if a beauty pageant included reading as part of its categories?! What would you do then?!"

Lola tried to come up with an answer, but she failed to come up with anything to say, prompting Lisa to point at Lana, her twin, next.

"Lana, you insist on keeping all your reptilian pets, even when most of them are venomous!"

Lana looked at the ground in shame. "Not only that, but they're not even domestic animals! They're snakes, serpents, and other wild animals that you just so happened to find and decided you wanted to keep them! It makes me wonder just how have you lasted this long, without suffering some horrible injury from those beasts!"

"I-I was just thinking that they needed a home!" the plumber replied, sounding slightly afraid as she spoke. "Please, Lisa, you have to understand!"

"Oh, I perfectly understand," the prodigy folded her arms. "You decided to risk not only yourself, but the rest of our family, with these dangerous wild animals, just to get what you wanted! In fact, doesn't that sound like a familiar girl?"

Lisa glanced from one twin to the other, until they looked at each other, and flinched in horror, just in time for the prodigy to turn to take her anger out on Lucy.

"Lucy, I may not tutor you, but I've heard about your poems, and haven't you thought that they would be better, if you focused more on them and not on looking gothic?!" Lisa stomped the ground, as Lucy gritted her teeth, potentially showing some bit of anger. "I mean seriously, I swear you put more effort into looking a whiny bag of depression, than a potential poet!"

Lucy's anger was mixed with sadness as tears started falling down her cheeks. "I'm trying as hard as I can, Lisa!"

"Trying as hard as you can, in doing what, exactly?" the scientist sternly, but calmly asked. "Because from what I can see, I can't tell if you're trying to be gothic, or if you're trying to be poetic."

The goth flinched and took another step back as the scientist turned to Lynn.

"Lynn, as an athlete, you should know that the ideal athlete has both brains and brawn, but you're basically brainless!" Lisa growled, increasing the volume of her during the "brainless" part. "You claim to be the very best, but if you had any sort of brain in that hollow head of yours, you'd know that's far from the case!"

The jock opened her mouth to speak, but she was quickly shut up when Lisa turned her attention from her to Luan.

"Luan, you need to get something through your thick skull: Laughing at your own jokes doesn't, make them, funny!"

The joker twiddled her fingers and laughed nervously, only to fall silent as Lisa turned to Luna.

"Luna, how can you expect anybody to learn anything when you're playing your music at ear-busting volume?!" Lisa lifted her arms. "I mean seriously, how are you not deaf yet?!"

Luna immediately-almost instinctively-covered her ears and stuttered, "I-I was just lucky, I guess?"

And then came Leni's turn to earn an earful. "Leni, you're a sweetheart, and I know you're not stupid, but good lord, could you show me you're not stupid rather than tell me?! I mean, how many more times are you going to fail your driving test?!"

Surprisingly enough, Leni's reaction was fairly subdued: Only looking at the ground with a regretful look.

"And Lori... oh dear lord, Lori... stop messaging your stupid boyfriend for one second, and maybe you'll be able to understand half the stuff I'm saying!" Lisa walked closer to Lori, who was writing something on her phone. "I mean, even right now, you're more focused on texting Bobby about something, rather than the rant that I've been going on for a couple minutes now!"

The eldest sister, however, just paid her sister no mind and focused on her phone, at least until Rita took it away. "Hey!"

"You can use the phone later, Lori," Rita sternly stated as she put the phone on her pocket. "Right now, you need to listen to the words Lisa has to say to all of you-"

And then the genius snapped, "I got some harsh words for you too, mom!"

"Wait, what?"

"Need I remind you that whenever there's a problem that needs mathematics, then you come to me for help, now matter how simple the problem is?!" the prodigy growled, gritting her teeth. "I mean, you couldn't even solve a simple train problem when Pop-Pop came to town!"

The woman twiddled her fingers. "I... was never the best in math, so-"

"There it goes, another excuse!" Lisa paced back and forth. "You know, I just noticed we come up with excuses so often, I'm surprised know us for our numbers, rather than our inability to take things at face value!"

Lisa stopped, took a deep breath, then pointed at her only brother with a furious look. "And last, but certainly not least, I got some word for you, Lincoln!"

"Well, can't say I didn't see it coming," the boy sighed and looked at the ground. "Hit me with all you got, I'll listen."

"Do I really need to, though? I mean, you basically just showed everybody my biggest problem with you," Lisa folded her arms as Lincoln looked at the prodigy with a confused look. "You lack spine or anything that makes our sisters take you seriously or respect you. Sure, at least five of our sisters are older than you, but if they don't even act like it half of the time, then you must show them who's boss!"

"Technically, that's me literally most of the time-" Lori spoke.

"Quiet, you technophilliac jerk, I'm not speaking to you!" Lisa shouted at Lori, before turning back to Lincoln. "Point is, you're the only guy in this household, and you let yourself be treated like a servant by everybody! I mean, do you even enjoy helping a jerk like Lola practice for beauty pageants? Or listen to Lucy's poems day after day with no end? Or be Lynn's personal punching bag? Do you enjoy any of those things, Lincoln!?"

Lincoln twiddled his fingers. "I... don't think so, no."

"Then you must show everybody that you're not some sort of butler they can call in whenever they need help with something! You're Lincoln Loud, a valuable member of the Loud family, who deserves to be treated with the same respect as everybody else in this household!" Lisa stomped the ground. "I mean, you're the link that keeps us all sane in this family!"

Then, the scientist turned to her sisters, who were basically frozen in shock at this moment. Not to mention anger for what the girl was implying. But still, they listened as she spoke:

"I know it sounds like I'm glorifying Lincoln too much. I'm not even going to try and deny it, compared to what I said, I seem to be complimenting him a bit too much. But I want you to be honest with me. No thinking, no lying, and most definitely, no stroking my ego just to get your way. I want you to tell me honestly... if Lincoln wasn't here to begin with... if he wasn't here to be our guide... our helper... our brother... and at times, our scapegoat..."

Lisa adjusted her glasses and put up a serious look as she sternly finished her question:

"Would we even be able to function as a family?"

Rita gasped and covered her mouth, followed by her children gasping as well. And though the sisters stood still with their mouths wide open, Lincoln shivered and glanced between the stern prodigy and the rest of their sisters. He honestly felt like, any minute now, the sisters would blow up in Lisa's face, or otherwise get angry at everything she's said to them.

And yet... that didn't happen. They just... stood still, mouths wide open, and even as they tried, they couldn't even manage to utter a single word.

It's almost as if the question left them speechless.

"All your silence does is prove my point even further," Lisa harshly spoke before turning to her brother. "Come with me, Lincoln, there's something I need to tell you in private."

Lisa walked upstairs, and the boy followed her, but not before taking a look at his stunned family members. The duo then walked to Lisa and Lily's bedroom, sat on Lisa's bed... and the prodigy sighed in exhaustion.

"I... apologize that you had to see that, Lincoln," the prodigy clasped her hands and looked away. "I just... needed to get those words out of my system and... I guess I went too far."

"Actually, something tells me that you needed to be that harsh, or else they wouldn't get it," Lincoln sighed and brushed Lisa's hair. "And before you say anything, I agree with everything you said, specially with what you said about me. I really do need to grow a spine."

Lisa sighed and twiddled her fingers as the boy asked, "Lisa, would you like to hear my idea to deal with this situation?"

"Go ahead," the prodigy stated.

The boy leaned closer to Lisa's ear and whispered his plan to her. And judging by how Lisa smiled afterwards, she liked the plan. Either that, or she found it so stupid, ridiculous, or improbably she couldn't help but smile.

"Your plan may work, Lincoln, but it also has a high chance of failing," Lisa adjusted her glasses. "You do realize that, don't you?"

"Of course, it wouldn't be one of my plans without a high chance of failure," Lincoln quipped, laughing a little before he added, "However, I'm sure you also realize that our sisters' worst traits can be worked or otherwise dealt with. And since we don't know if _they_ will be willing to take the first step, _we'll_ have to do it instead."

"Hehe, yeah," Lisa chuckled.

"So, while you do what I told you to do, I'll stay here and help our sisters recognize and work out their worst traits, and once they've changed, you can come back," Lincoln explained with a smile. "Trust me, I'm sure that with some effort, our sisters will better themselves in no time-"

Lisa laughed out loud like a hyena, almost as if she just heard a really funny joke. However, her laughter ceased soon afterwards to allow her to state, with a pleased look:

"Lincoln, I promise you that, from this day onward, I'll trust you with helping our sisters change for the better."

Then, without warning, although really he did it slowly enough to let Lisa react, Lincoln hugged his scientific sisters before stating:

"And I promise you, from this day onward, I'm not going to be such a pushover."

The prodigy paused to take what the statement meant at face value, and then smiled before happily returning the hug to her older brother.


	4. Chapter 4

The day after the whole "chewing out her siblings for their bad habits" deal, Lisa made sure that the first chance she got, she left the house and went to Darcy's home. There was no doubt that, after saying such "scathing" things to her sisters, they would be a bit upset, some in an angrier manner than others, and she wasn't willing to put up with that.

Luckily, she still had one ally, besides her mother and baby sister: Lincoln, who also woke up early and sneakily went his way through the hallway until he met with the prodigy outside of her bedroom door.

"Thanks a lot for helping me go to Darcy's home early, brother unit," Lisa whispered to the boy as the duo silently went downstairs. "I already have enough on my plate to think about it, and our sisters' reactions to the day after the incident is not something I want to think about."

"It's okay, Lisa, you do deserve to keep to your choice and try to live life as a normal toddler, if that's what you want," Lincoln whispered back as the duo went their way to the kitchen. "And don't worry, I'll be sure to tell them about what we'll need to do to convince you to come back."

Eventually, the duo reached the garage, where the vanzilla was ready to drive away, with Rita at the driver's seat.

"Quick, Lisa, get in!" Rita whispered at her children. "You too, Lincoln!"

The boy tilted his head in confusion. "Me? Why?"

"Lincoln, it's already clear that vanzilla's quite the noisy machine. When we leave the house, your sisters are likely going to wake up, and I don't want to think about what they'd do to you if you remained behind," Rita sternly answered. "And besides, you and Lisa have to explain to me what's your plan to fix the situation, so could you please get in the van already?"

The boy nodded and he and the young scientist went inside, with the van driving off towards the homandollar's house shortly afterwards. And though it took a while, the vanzilla reached Darcy's house, and both Rita and Lisa came out of the van.

"Lincoln, I'm gonna go drop off Lisa in her friend's house," the Loud matriarch told her son. "You stay here just in case something happens, okay?"

Lincoln nodded, Rita gave him a thumbs up, and she closed the door before she and Lisa went to the door and got ready to knock, only for Darcy and her mother to answer first.

"Huh, you actually answered before I knocked the door," Rita remarked in surprise.

"I lost 20 dollars to you one time, and I'm never losing 20 dollars, or making bets with you, ever again," Darcy's mother bluntly stated. "Anyway, I see you brought your daughter. I hope she's as low maintenance as you said she was, 'cause I'm not really prepared to take care of a "prodigy" toddler anytime soon."

"You have nothing to worry about, Mrs. Darcy's Mother, I want to try living like a normal toddler, so even if I was high maintenance, I'd have to get used to what Darcy likes anyway," Lisa explained as she walked inside. "Trust me, I'll be like Darcy's twin sister."

Mrs. Darcy's Mother rolled her eyes and exchanged a look with Rita before she closed the door, and Rita drove back home, with Lincoln clearly worried for whatever woudl come next.

As for Lisa, she and Darcy walked to the living room in order to discuss something.

"So, you're staying here for a month, right?" Darcy asked, slightly worried.

"Yes, I got into some problems with my siblings, and mom and I decided that staying somewhere else until things calm down was the best idea," Lisa shook her head and sighed. "I'm sure your own mother told you about this, right?"

"Yeah, but she didn't tell me anything about your family issues things," Darcy yawned. "Could you tell me what happened?"

Lisa took a deep breath. "It'll bring back some bad memories, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you what happened."

 _One explanation later..._

"And that's exactly what caused things to get so heated that I needed to go somewhere else, your house in this case, until things calmed down," Lisa finished explaining. "Do you understand, Darcy?"

"Hmm, well, your explanation was filled with lots of words I don't understand," the brunette girl shrugged. "Could you explain me again, without the big words?"

" _Curses! Why must I be so fluent in Genius?!_ " Lisa rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, let me try."

 _Another, simpler explanation later..._

"Oh, now I get it!" Darcy smiled, only to frown as she asked, "Would staying at my house really fix anything, though? It sounds more like you want to go away from those problems you have with your sisters."

"And, in a sense, that's kinda what's happening here," Lisa sheepishly shrugged. "However, my brother devised a plan to help our sisters change for the better, and if everything goes alright, they'll have become better people-and less dependent on me-by the time the month ends and I return to my house."

Darcy tilted her head. "What if it doesn't work?"

Lisa's mood immediately went sour, with a couple hints of surprised her and there. However, once the shock from the question wore off, the scientist couldn't help but look at the ground as she somberly answered:

"Then I'll just have to accept that my sisters are hopeless."


	5. Chapter 5

At the dawn of the next day, Lisa and Darcy slowly woke up to find themselves sleeping on Darcy's bed, the girl being on the left side while Lisa was on the right side. They were hugging each other, and though Lisa didn't mind at first, she immediately separated from the girl and backed away when she noticed something coming out of her mouth.

"Darcy, are you drooling from your mouth?" Lisa asked with slight disgust.

"Of course I am, I mean, where else am I supposed to drool from? My nose?" Darcy chuckled and then wiped off the drool from her mouth. "Sorry, Lisa, but I had this dream where I was surrounded by so much delicious food animals: chocolate cake elephants, banana split monkeys, and even lollipop giraffes!"

The scientist felt her mouth drool a little before she said, "Wow, that really does sound delicious. And unexplainable."

"Lisa! Darcy! Time for breakfast!" Darcy's Mother shouted from downstairs. "Get dressed and get down before I give it to the dogs or something!"

"That's just some hollow threat, right?" Lisa asked.

The girls exchanged looks which slowly turned worried until they jumped out of the bed and got dressed before heading downstairs as fast as they could. Once there, the duo sat on the table and the woman brought breakfast.

"So, this is your first day living under our roof," Darcy's Mom remarked, earning a nod from Lisa. "What do you usually do after waking up?"

"Work on some experiments if I have enough energy, otherwise see if Lily or anybody else in the house is awake," Lisa answered as she adjusted her glasses, only to yawn as she added, "Speaking of which, I failed to find certain components or pieces of a chemical set, or a chemical set in general-"

"Ohoho, I know what you're planning to do, you little rascal, but I'm not going to let you do any experiments, specially if you're living with my little Darcy," Mrs. Homandollar sternly stated, giving the genius an angry look. "You honestly think you can live the same way you did in your house? Either you learn to adapt to how things work around here, or you can go back to your house."

Lisa looked at the ground, only to sigh and put up a little smile, "What's for breakfast?"

"Eggs and ham," Darcy's Mom answered before presenting the food to the toddlers. "You can eat that, right? Neither you nor your mother told me what you could or couldn't eat."

"Of course I can, Mrs. Darcy's Mother," Lisa answered as she grabbed a fork. "I assure you, I may be a prodigy, but I'm still human."

The woman raised an eyebrow before she just shrugged it off and went off to do her business, leaving her daughter and her friend to eat their food. And Lisa also took the chance to talk with Darcy:

"So, Darcy, after we're done eating, do you think you could show me what you do on an average day?"

"Sure, why not?" Darcy answered, solely focused on her food. "But are you sure you won't get bored? You seem to be more interested in robotics, and nothing of what I do is related to any of that stuff."

"Darcy, the purpose of my stay at your house is to ditch away my old, robotic and science-centric life, in favor for one that's more "normal", for lack of a better word," Lisa sighed. "Bottom line, I'm willing to engage in the activities that you enjoy, if it'll help us get closer."

And one confused look from the girl later, Lisa corrected herself:

"I don't mind doing things you like, really. In fact, I'm looking forward to it."

Darcy smiled at the remark, and ate her breakfast before beginning Lisa's first day as "a normal kid her age." So with all that jazz done, they immediately went to the best place to begin Lisa's journey for normality: The Royal Woods Public Park.

And then they headed to the playground right next to it.

"Ah, so this is the fabled playground that my older sisters have been to at least once," Lisa remarked as she took a look around the place. "I've seen pictures of this place before, but this is the first time I see it in reality."

"It's right next to the park, though," Darcy pointed out.

"I never said I bothered to look around, did I?" Lisa walked back to her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. "Now, what game would you like to show me first?"

 _The first game..._

Darcy and Lisa stood in front of a hopscotch game, with several squares drawn on the floor. "This game's called hopscotch!" Darcy excitedly exclaimed.

"So, what's the point of this game?" Lisa scratched her head. "How do you win it?"

"You have to jump on each space until you reach the rock, then take the rock, turn around, and jump all the way back," Darcy explained as she guided Lisa to the starting line. "Come on, give it a try!"

Darcy handed Lisa a rock, then watched as the scientist scanned her surroundings before throwing the rock as hard as she could, causing it to land right at the end. Lisa glanced back at Darcy, who nodded, then turned back before she jumped up three spaces before being stopped by her friend:

"Wait, Lisa, I forgot to say something important: In the middle of the game, you must pick between the two spots, then jump in and back through the same spot. If you get the wrong spot, you lose!"

Well geez, thanks for telling her late, Darcy!

Even with the late advice, Lisa managed to go down the same route she did before, successfully winning the game. Darcy gave her a tight hug afterwards.

 _The second game..._

Next thing Darcy showed Lisa was a rope. A jump rope, to be exact. "This is a jump rope, and it's not some sort of rope that jumps on it's own when you order it to."

"Well, now I'm tempted to test your hypothesis," Lisa adjusted her glasses, then barked at the rope. "Jump rope, jump for us!"

The jump rope did nothing.

"Okay, yeah, I probably should've seen that coming," the prodigy shrugged. "So, what are we supposed to do with this?"

Rather than tell her, Darcy grabbed both ends of the jump rope, then jumped up and down while swinging the jump rope in the same manner. She did this three times before she handed the jump rope to Lisa, hoping she'd at least understand the basics. And she did get them, for she swung and jumped on the same manner that Darcy did twice, before messing up on the third try and fall on her butt.

Surprisingly, Lisa actually did laugh for a moment before Darcy helped her get up. "Please tell me that doesn't happen often."

"Falling on your butt by mistake? No, that tends to happen from time to time if you're just starting out," Darcy answered, patting Lisa's back. "But that was good, I'm sure if you keep practicing, you'll get better at it in no time."

"Hehe, alright then," Lisa sighed and smiled. "So, what's next?"

 _The final game..._

"And the last game we'll see today is a classic," Darcy took out a small beanbag. "Hot potato!"

"I'm more of a fan of french fries myself," Lisa answered, earning a deadpan look from her friend. "Wait, "hot potato"'s the name of the game?"

"Yup, and it's a fairly simple one as well," Darcy tossed the beanbag at Lisa, who narrowly grabbed it. "We throw the beanbag, or whatever object we're using, to each other while one of us sings a little song, and whoever has the object by the end of the song loses. I'll be the one singing the song, so all you gotta do is throw the beanbag at me when I give it to you, got it?"

Lisa nodded, then threw the beanbag back at Darcy, with the girls passing it back and forth between each other as Darcy sung a little song:

"Hot potato, dry tomato, who'll get it in the end, I have no idea my friend,"

Then the duo sped up.

"It's heating up, it's heating up, and by the way, bud, what's up?"

And they sped even further.

"It's heating faster and faster, it's getting hotter! Hotter, hotter, hotter, hotter aaaaand-"

Darcy paused and threw it to Lisa before finishing:

"It's on fire!"

Lisa immediately threw the beanbag in the air and ran all over the place, screaming as she flailed her arms up and down. Darcy couldn't help but laugh as she added, "Lisa, the beanbag's not really on fire! It's just a saying!"

"Oh." the scientist stopped freaking out and walked back to Darcy. "So, since I held the beanbag when it got set on fire, I lost, right?"

Darcy just nodded and nervously smiled. "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll win next time. For now, how about we do something I really like to do?"

Lisa smiled, and mere seconds later, the pair were resting on the grass, looking at the clouds pass by

"Oh, look Lisa, that cloud looks like a horse!" Darcy shouted, pointing at the designated cloud. "And that one looks like a snowman!"

"Uh, that one looks like a," Lisa pointed at the cloud she watched, but when she realized it looked like a robot, she hesitated before saying, "Like a transforming automobile!"

Darcy giggled. "Lisa, that's a robot."

"Oh, it is?" Lisa chuckled. "I didn't notice."

The duo exchanged a look before they laughed for a moment, turning back to their cloud watching once the laughing stopped.

"Are you enjoying your "normal life" so far, Lisa?" Darcy asked, forcing a little smile.

"Yeah, It's been very... fun," Lisa nodded and smiled. "Thanks a lot for showing me what I was missing. And for being so accepting about the whole deal, too."

"Well, It's not like I even know how to talk about it," Darcy's smile slowly turned into a frown. "I still think you could've done something else to try and fix the situation-"

"Darcy, believe me, _nothing_ else I had planned would've probably worked," Lisa shook her head and sighed. "And besides, I trust that Lincoln's plan will come to fruition. Even if he doesn't get our sisters to do a complete 180, and I hope it doesn't, I at least hope that they realize their faults and change for the better."

Lisa then noticed a cloud that looked just like Lincoln's face, and she couldn't help but frown and think:

" _Good luck, Lincoln._ "


	6. Chapter 6

_Meanwhile, back at the Loud house..._

Lincoln sat on the basement, in one of the corners where he was both hidden, and where nobody would hear him as he answered a phone call. And this was important, since he was talking with Lisa.

"And then I tried out some jump rope, and I fell on my butt just as I was about to jump for the third time!" Lisa cheerfully said. "Then we played hot potato, and I... kinda got too in-character and started panicking when I lost."

"That sounds like something you would do, actually," Lincoln answered.

Sternly, Lisa said, "I flailed my arms up and down and ran around in a panic.

Lincoln thought about it, then said, "Still sounds like something you would do."

Lisa actually laughed at the statement, which surprised her brother. "Since when do you know how to laugh at yourself?"

"That was one of the things Darcy taught me," the prodigy answered, her tone sounding more cheerful as she added, "After the whole park deal, she taught me how to laugh at something that sounded funny, rather than explain it or just not get it."

"That sounds like advice Luan really could use," Lincoln quipped.

"Speaking of her and our sisters, how are they doing?" Lisa suddenly asked. "Have you been able to start your part of the plan? After all, in order for it to work, we both need to make our part."

"It's barely been a day, Lisa, I needed time to prepare, unlike you," Lincoln sighed. "But don't worry, I already know what I'm going to say, I already practiced what I'm going to say to try and get them to hear me out, and just in case things go awry, Mom's on standby to put them on their place."

"I'm glad to hear that, I hope you have good luck in your part of the plan," the prodigy replied. "Well, I gotta go, Darcy's about to introduce me to something called pudding. See ya!"

Lisa hung up, and Lincoln put his phone on his pocket before he got up and took a deep breath. He then went upstairs... only to find his sisters were all in the living room, basically laying around like nothing was happening, and eating some chocolate for a snack. Rita was standing nearby, looking at them in disapproval as Lincoln approached her.

"W-What are they doing?" the boy asked his Mother in disbelief.

"Waiting for Lisa to come back on her own, apparently," Rita rolled her eyes. "I was getting ready to act like the bad cop, when I found them just like this. When I asked them what was up, that's basically what they told me."

"It's the only thing we can really do, after all," Luna blurted, getting her brother and mother's attention. "I mean, Lisa left, yeah, but she's probably just a bit stressed. Once she's finally calmed down, she'll come back, right?"

"Girls, listen: Lisa decided to leave the house because we abused her, and we refused to change for the better not just for her sake, but ours too," the boy explained sternly. "Granted, I will admit that Lisa also has issues to deal with, but that's exactly what she's doing right now! Meanwhile, you're all just sitting here eating chocolate, acting like waiting for Lisa to come back is going to fix anything!"

"That's because It's the only thing we can do, Lincoln," Lori stated. "Lisa's the one that literally started all of this by not telling us the reason why she literally would do what she did!"

"Yeah, why would she stop tutoring us whenever we need her, and instead focus on this girl she met called Darcy?" Lynn added.

Lincoln was about to shout, but Rita beat him to the punch:

"The answer! Is! Right in your statement!"

Everybody turned to face Rita, the Loud sisters visibly too scared to argue back as she added:

"Darcy is the first real friend Lisa's gotten: She's not a robot, she's not a machine, she's not an experiment, and she's most certainly not a person Lisa would disregard as unimportant. This is her chance to finally learn how to act like a normal toddler, rather than a "science prodigy" who's willing to use anybody as their test subjects!"

The sisters flinched at the mention of "test subjects", knowing full well how it felt to be treated like such.

"And, if he plan works, you'll finally get to wake up every morning without being scared of Lisa putting you in the middle of some sort of experiment!" Rita added as she walked to her son's side. "And if we want the plan to work to It's best capacity, you have to listen to your brother, and hear out his suggestions to work out your issues."

"W-Well, what about your issues, then?!" Lynn snapped, giving her mother the pointer finger as she added, "You also have issues, so-"

However, all Rita needed to do was throw a furious glare at the jock to strike fear to her very being, successfully getting her to shut up. She then explained, after taking a deep breath, "I'll try to learn how to properly do math in a moment, but since I also have to work with my and your father's... slight incompetence as parents, I need to try and balance both issues, while also trying to act like a mother to all of you."

"And I'll make sure to balance working out my problems with looking after the plan as well," Lincoln added, before clapping and saying, "As for what each of you will do..."

Lincoln pointed at the respective sister as he spoke:

"Lori, you will find some other past time so you can stop focusing on your phone all the time. Leni, you will quit this "dumb" persona you've put up for so long and stop acting like an idiot. Luna, you either get headphones, or you learn to live with lower volume from now on. Luan, you need to try and hold your own laughter after telling your jokes, to let other people genuinely laugh at your pranks, and also learn to tone it down for April Fools Day. Lynn, stop being so physical and start putting effort into becoming smarter. Lucy, try to cheer up. Lana, put some of your pets for adoption, or otherwise find somebody else who could take them. And Lola, start learning how to read!"

It wasn't long before Luan pointed something out, "Wait, what about Lily?"

After a couple seconds of silence, everybody but Luan laughed out loud, with Luna patting Luan's back as well. The comedian raised an eyebrow, not sure on what her sisters found funny, but the laughter soon calmed down and Lincoln continued:

"Anyway, that's all you need to do in order to convince Lisa to come back to the house. If you can manage to deal with your bad habits before the month's over, then I'm sure Lisa will gladly return home."

Of course, Lucy had to be the pessimist, "What if we fail to do that by then?"

"I can't tell you that-"

"What?!" the sisters snapped.

"Let him finish!" Rita yelled, causing the sisters to shut up.

"I can't tell you that, because if I did, I'd be afraid that you'd be forcing yourselves to change, rather than change on your own," the boy continued. "Sure, you may end up dealing with your bad habits anyway, but Lisa's smart enough to know when you're changing for the better, and when you're changing just to get her back to the house. Specially since she'll think you changed just so she could come back."

"Wait a minute, I'm, like, confused," Leni remarked. "So we're supposed to change before a month passes, but change in a way that seems natural, which would take time?"

"I know it may sound like I'm contradicting myself, but trust me, it'll make more sense once we've started the rehabilitation process," Lincoln put his hands on his waist. "Now, can I at least trust you to promise me that, whenever you get the chance, you'll try your hardest to fix these problems?"

The sisters exchanged looks, and nodded, prompting Lincoln to nod in approval and turn to Rita. "As for you, Mom-"

"I know, I have to try and learn how to do math," the Loud matriarch sighed. "I'll be sure to call a tutor as soon as I finish cooking lunch, don't worry."

"Yeah, that too," Lincoln waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "But actually, I wanted to ask you something."

Rita raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

And what Lincoln asked next not only shook the rest of the present Loudsters, but also made them question the exact same thing:

"Where's Dad?"


	7. Chapter 7

_The next day, at Darcy's House..._

"Lincoln, why are you asking me such a question?"

Lisa sat on her side of Darcy's bed, with Darcy making a drawing nearby, trying not to pay attention to Lisa's phone call.

"It's just that, while I was making sure I didn't, I realized that you never mentioned Dad during your little rant explaining your issues with the whole house," the white-haired boy answered. "I was wondering if you had any idea of what happened to him?"

"I'm afraid I'm just as lost as you are, Lincoln," Lisa shook her head. "Quite honestly, I think he simply escaped my mind while I was doing the rant. Although, now that I think about it, I don't think we've seen him for a while now."

"Do you think something happened to him?" Lincoln asked.

"I don't think so, Royal Woods isn't a place of big or frequent crime, it's fairly safe," Lisa argued. "Although, while we can rule out the idea that something happened to him related to crime, he might've been busy with something else at the moment. Perhaps he got a very important customer in his restaurant, and he's spent a lot of time there?"

"But it's been days since we last saw him," Lincoln pointed out. "He hasn't even called us or anything to explain his absence."

"Perhaps he's just busy with his restaurant," Lisa suggested. "You know what happened last time he had a food critic and we were there to muck it up. Sure, the critic liked the mundane thing he made, but just cuz one critic did, doesn't mean they all will. Just be patient, I'm sure he'll appear eventually."

"I hope so," Lincoln sighed. "Well, I gotta go get the girls ready to change for the better. Goodbye."

Lisa ended the call, and as soon as she hung the phone, Darcy went to her side and revealed her drawing to her: The drawing was of Lisa with her sisters, all looking happy... and the sisters looking completely different from the real deal.

"I made it to give you motivation just in case something happens," Darcy glanced at her drawing. "I kinda had to go blind since you never told me how your sisters looked like, either that or I don't remember, but I hope you like it anyway."

"Darcy... thanks a lot for the drawing," Lisa said as she grabbed the picture. "But, I need to ask, are _you_ okay with the whole operation so far? I think it's a bit unfair that I don't hear your opinion on it, since I'm acting as a symbiotic organism in your household for an extended period of time."

Darcy raised an eyebrow, prompting Lisa to chuckle and explain:

"I'm living in your house for a while, but I haven't asked if you're okay with the idea."

"Oh, well, yeah, I don't mind it," Darcy hugged Lisa. "I mean, it's like I have a sister who's much smarter, but wants to learn how to be a normal toddler! It's like I was your bigger sister! Although, I wonder if you're really younger than me."

"I believe we're around the same age. I think." Lisa patted Darcy's back and sighed, "I'll have to ask both my and your Mom to confirm my assumption, won't I?"

"Speaking of Mom, I think you should ask her about this, too," Darcy and Lisa separated. "Although, maybe later, since she might be a bit... upset today."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by, upset?"

Next thing the pair knew, they were down in the living room, watching as Darcy's Mother checked her mails, inspected the lower level of the house, and in general, she seemed to be doing half a dozen things a second.

"Okay, now I see what you mean by "upset," Lisa remarked. "This is the first time I see your Mother acting like this, is somebody important coming?"

"Actually, Dad's going to come pay me and Mom a visit today!" Darcy chirped. "The reason he's coming is because his other family would most likely drive both of us nuts, so, for our sake, only he'll pay us a visit."

"Your Dad had another family, despite having you?" Lisa asked, earning a nod from her friend. "What kind of parental figure would do that?!"

"A divorced one, according to Mom!" Darcy giggled, then whispered close to Lisa's ear, "What does divorce mean, by the way?"

Naturally, Lisa didn't have the heart to tell the sad truth to her friend, so she simply patted her back and answered, "You'll find out when you get older."

And soon enough, somebody knocked the door, catching Darcy's Mother's attention. She walked to the door, with Lisa and Darcy by her side, and opened the door, expecting a certain someone to come along.

And the guy outside... was revealed to be Lynn Sr.

"What the-!?"

And he held a "to-go" food delivery, "Food delivery, right here!"

Lisa sighed in... slight relief as Darcy's Mom said, "Thanks a lot, I didn't have enough time to cook dinner myself, and knowing my husband, he's probably going to bring nothing either. You're a life saver."

"And all I ask in return is that you'll be my wallet saver," Lynn Sr. quipped before extending his hand forward. "This delivery will be 20 dollars. This part, at least."

The woman took out the money and quipped, "You know, for a wallet saver, you seem rather cheap. Most people would ask for more money."

"This is just the "appetizer" as the man who ordered this called it," Lynn Sr. explained. "One of my colleagues will bring the rest later, and that'll be paid by him later."

Darcy's Mother sternly frowned. "I think I have a good idea who bought this, then."

"And the buyer told me to keep you company, just in case he doesn't arrive in time," Lynn Sr. sheepishly added before handing the woman a note. "And in case you don't believe me, here's his written order."

"Okay, now I 100% know who bought this," Darcy's Mother bitterly stated as she read the order. "Well, if Darcy's Father's such a bum he knows he probably won't come, we might as well treat the freaking food delivery man like he was her real father."

"But he's _my_ father," Lisa pointed out.

"Lisa?" Lynn Sr. blurted, walking closer to meet the girl face-to-face. "Why are you here?"

The Prodigy looked at Darcy, who just shrugged, and then she turned back to her father and said, "There's something I gotta tell you."

 _A little bit later..._

Darcy, her mother, Lisa, and Lynn Sr. sat at the kitchen table, eating the food the man had ordered-well, Lynn Sr. wasn't eating it, for obvious reasons-and the man scratched the back of his head as he processed what the situation Lisa told him dealt with.

"I see, so that's what happened," the delivery man remarked. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart, I wish I could've been there to try and get things to calm down."

Lisa shrugged. "Being honest, you probably wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway."

Flustered, Lynn Sr. stuttered, "B-But still, I could've tried!"

"Maybe, but that's not important right now," Lisa turned to Darcy. "So, it's been a while, and my father's statement made me curious; Are you sure your dad's even going to come?"

"Dad will come, he usually takes a long time to arrive, that's all!" Darcy rolled her eyes and turned to Lisa. "Just be patient, and if you can't do that, we can play "Dance, Dance, Resolution" until he gets here! It'll be fun!"

"That sounds... fine," Lisa looked elsewhere. "But... well-"

Darcy frowned. "What is it?"

"...Nah, nevermind," Lisa waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "I'm already asking a lot of both you and your Mother by letting me stay here for a month, dragging you into my issues would be asking too much."

With that said, Darcy narrowed her eyes and stated bluntly, "Lisa, as long as you're in my house, you're my honorary sister. And whether you're older or younger, sisters are there for each other whenever one's troubled! So don't feel bad about telling me what's wrong, 'cause I don't mind helping you."

"Well, my issue lies mostly with my father unit," Lisa revealed, before turning to the man himself. "You see, just a moment ago, Lincoln called me and said how he and our siblings discovered that you haven't appeared in a while. When you came through that door, I was worried that you were Darcy's father, which would make us half-sisters."

"Oh, Lisa, I'm sorry about that, it's just that I've been incredibly busy with work lately that I haven't been able to stay at home for long," Lynn Sr. explained. "Like a week ago or something, the same customer I mentioned? His order was so big, that the other chefs and I had no choice but to stay working overtime since then to try and get everything done in time."

"Huh, sounds like Darcy's father has a flair for exaggerations," Lisa quipped, before sighing, "I understand, though. Hopefully, when you get back home, you can help Lincoln change Mom and my sisters for the better."

"It's the least I can do, right?" Lynn Sr. quipped.

Everybody chuckled, and Lisa went back to eating the food, hoping that everything was going well on Lincoln's end. After all, there were still a couple weeks before the month finished, the sisters had plenty of time to change, just like how Lisa had plenty of time to enjoy being a normal toddler.

Hopefully, things would only get better from here.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's the next chapter of Darcy or Family... and there's something I'd like to say before we begin.**

 **I've come to realize that, sooner or later, this story will start to drag. After all, there's only so much Darcy-Lisa bonding and habit-ridding training (Did I say that right?) before my brain tells me to get on with it.**

 **And so, next chapter will most likely be the final chapter. Lisa will return with a little friend, she'll see her family once more, and finally, it'll be up to her to decide whether or not she'll stay at the Loud house, or go away forever.**

 **Anyway, onto the chapter!**

* * *

A new day, a new rooster to ruin everyone's beauty sleep by reminding them it was time to wake up. Lincoln Loud was one of these people, and as soon as he got up, he noticed the readers.

"Oh hi, nice to see you again," Lincoln greeted. "It's been a while since we last met, and since the girls-and Mom-started to try and change for the better in order to convince Lisa to come back home. Now, you may think that at this point, no progress has been made at all, and the situation is starting to look hopeless, to the point Lisa might actually decide to move in with Lisa."

The boy chuckled and shook his head before jumping out of his bed, "Well, my friends, that's exactly what I hope is not the case! I'll go check how my sisters have been doing, and you can just stay there and give them the benefit of the doubt, right?"

Lincoln reached for the door, and took a deep breath before he left his room and began his journey to see if his sisters were changing at least a little bit for Lisa's sake. First ones he saw, of course, were Lori and Leni, with the former sitting on her bed as she spoke with someone on the phone.

"Bobby, listen, I'm trying my best to focus less on my phone, so if you want have something to discuss, we'll have to do it at your house," Lori said as Lincoln walked to her. "I'll get ready, and I'll let you know when I'm driving to your house."

Lori hung up her phone, turned around and walked past Lincoln before stating, "Sorry, Lincoln, I literally need to get ready to go visit Bobby, so I can't help you with whatever you need now. But I'm sure Leni would like your company."

Lincoln nodded and immediately walked over to Leni, who was busy writing something down on a notebook.

"Hi Leni, Lori's busy so she told me to check up on you," the boy greeted, getting the fashionista's attention. "How are you doing? Did you make any progress on... you know, your change?"

"Well, believe it or not, it's kinda difficult to do it when, like, the thing you need to change can be taken in many different ways," Leni answered, taking a deep breath before showing what she wrote on her notebook. "I'm writing down all the meanings it could be applied to, and I've already written down what all of our siblings will, like, have to do, as well as whether they've been able to keep it up."

"Really?" Lincoln asked, tilting his head. "You wrote that?"

Leni handed Lincoln a different notebook, the one holding the notes she wrote for what her siblings needed to do, and the boy was sincerely impressed by what he read.

"Wow, Leni, thanks a lot!" Lincoln remarked. "But, you didn't really have to do this, you know that, right?"

Leni smiled and shook her head. "I'm always happy to help."

With that said, Lincoln left the room and walked towards Luna and Luan's bedroom as he said to himself, "Okay, Lori and Leni seem to be doing well. Let's see how Luna and Luan are doing."

However, an annoyed grunt coming from the twins' bedroom quickly caught Lincoln's attention, and he immediately headed to their room and barged in. Once inside, he saw Lola sitting on her bed while trying to read a book, while Lana just... sulked in the corner.

"Ugh, why is this so hard?!" Lola exclaimed in exasperation. "Stop making it so hard for me to read you, book!"

Lincoln promptly walked to Lola's side and put a hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong, Lola?"

The diva flinched, and snapped as soon as she turned to face her brother, "Lincoln, don't go pulling a Lucy on me! That's just rude!"

"Sorry, I didn't notice you were that concentrated in the book," Lincoln brushed Lola's hair. "By the way, how are you doing? Have you been able to read it?"

"I've tried, Lincoln, I honestly have, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't do it!"

"And I think I may have an idea why that's the case," Lincoln crouched down and looked closer at Lola's eyes. "Have the reading glasses we bought for you arrived yet?"

Lola flinched, and started sweating profusely as she turned away, trying to avoid eye contact with her brother.

"Listen, Lola, I know you probably don't want to wear glasses 'cause you think they're not cute or something like that, but we all have to do sacrifices to change for the better, you included," Lincoln patted the diva's back. "And besides, you don't have to wear them all the time, just when you're trying to read something. Plus, if they haven't arrived yet-"

"They did arrive," Lola somberly answered. "They arrived last night."

"Good to know," Lincoln got up. "So? Take them out and put them on."

Though hesitant, the diva took a deep breath, reached for her back, and took out a pair of glasses that looked similar to Lisa's, but with the lens being pink. After putting them on, Lola nervously turned to Lincoln, and blushed as the guy took his time looking at her.

"Those glasses look great on you, Lola!" the boy remarked with a reassuring smile. "Now try reading the book, see if it's any easier to read it."

Lola took a deep breath and turned back to her book, and though she still had trouble reading the full paragraph, at least she could tell what she was supposed to read this time.

"It works!" Lola chirped before turning to Lincoln. "It actually works!"

"I'm glad," the boy glanced at Lana. "I'll go check up on Lana, you keep up the good work."

Lola nodded and went back to her book as the boy went to Lana. Lincoln walked to the side of the saddened tomboy and sat next to her, where he saw she was holding Hops on her arms. She briefly noticed and glanced at Lincoln, but she just as quickly went back to Hops and took a deep breath.

"I know it must be tough to part ways with those snakes and frogs and all those other animals you had as pets, but it's for the best, Lana," Lincoln put a hand on the tomboy's shoulder and smiled. "And besides, most of them were wild animals you found at random. Unless they've spent over a decade with, or you domesticated them yourself, they probably will survive in the wild."

"It still doesn't change the fact that this room feels so... empty, without them around," Lana looked at Hops with a saddened look. "Hops is the only pet I have left, since I'm planning to gift Bitey to Lana. This room... is gonna feel like it's missing something when Lisa does come back."

"We're all taking risks for Lisa's sake, you're not the only one who's having a hard time dealing with it," Lincoln petted Lana's head and got up. "Speaking of which, I have to go see if Lucy and Lynn are doing their part for the plan. Goodbye."

The boy left the room, and as soon as they were alone, Lana and Lola glanced at each other. As for Lucy and Lynn? They were surfing through Lucy's side of the closet, hoping to find something that made her look less like a goth.

"Lucy, why are almost all of your dresses and other clothes black and white?" Lynn complained, taking out a dress before adding, "Even I keep a couple of different outfits just in case I need them!"

"So do I! It's just that most of the events I go to require either black or white clothing," Lucy answered. "And besides, I do have other outfits!"

Lynn took out a black funeral outfit. "I didn't say they didn't make me look more gothic than I usually look."

"Are you two doing alright?"

Lynn and Lucy flinched and turned around to see Lincoln standing at the door way.

"Yeah, we're doing fine, Link, except for that fact that the Duchess of Darkness took her title way too literally," Lynn slid off the pile, while Lucy rolled until she hit the ground face-first. "She doesn't have any clothes that don't make her look any less gothic than usual! And that's the first step she needs to take!"

"She could just go to the mall and buy some new clothes?" Lincoln suggested. "She could even ask Leni to take her there, she goes there almost every day. Although, that would mean she would have to take some time away from trying to make herself not seem as dumb as she really is..."

"Speaking of Leni, have you checked how she and Lori are doing?" Lynn inquired, tilting her head. "I would go see them myself, but I'm scared of how shocking the sight may be."

"I already checked them, they're doing fine," Lincoln scratched his chin. "Which would mean the only sisters left to look at are Luna and Luan, since Lily's pretty much just a baby. I'll go check on them now."

Lynn and Lucy nodded, and Lincoln immediately went to Luna and Luan's bedroom, where he saw the comedian sitting nervously on her stage, while Luna... was nowhere to be seen. Seeing this, Lincoln started looking around, and Luan promptly answered:

"Luna's at the backyard, practicing her music."

And as the boy turned to look at the comedian, Luan sighed, "It's still kinda loud, but nothing that could bust our ears."

Just then, Lincoln heard some faint rock music in the background, and he walked closer to the window, where the sound was coming from. He leaned closer, and saw some mucis notes coming out from the garage, and, since the garage usually moved left and right whenever Luna was playing her music, this brought a smile on Lincoln's face.

"Alright, Luna's making some good progress," Lincoln walked to the worried Luan. "All that's left before we reunite to check up on everything is you, Luan. Can you tell me one of your jokes? Any joke will do."

"I don't know, Lincoln, are you sure you wanna hear one now?" Luan inquired, scratching the back of her head nervously. "I mean, there won't be anything hiding how bad the joke is, if it turns out to be that bad."

"Luan, we're all taking risks here in order to convince Lisa she doesn't have to leave us," Lincoln bluntly stated. "I'll take any jokes you have, as long as it'll help you learn not to laugh at it on your own."

Luan, nervous about the risk, took a deep breath and quipped:

"Have you ever been to the North or South Pole? I was told that if you've seen one, you've seen the other. I guess that'd make sense, since they're polar opposites!"

Lincoln groaned at the joke, but this didn't stop him from noticing a surprising fact: Luan was actually able to hold back her laughter! Sure, her smile was ear-to-ear, but she wasn't cackling like a maniac.

"Luan, you're actually holding back!" Lincoln exclaimed in relief. "And you're not even chuckling or letting out a couple tiny laughs, either!"

"To be fair, that's the joke I've been using to practice my "holding back my laughter" deal," Luan shrugged and rolled her eyes. "I may need to practice with some more jokes before I'm anywhere close to hot cackling like a hyena all the time."

"You still made some progress, and that's good," Lincoln stood up and sighed, "We might actually be able to convince Lisa we can change for the better at this point."

Lincoln took out the note Leni handed him, checked it and smiled, "I think we need to reunite."

 _Some minutes later..._

Lincoln, as well as most of his sisters, had reunited at the boys' bedroom, with the girls sporting pleased looks as they read the note.

"Well, it seems that most of you have made some progress in changing your troublesome habits!" Lincoln remarked with a prideful tone. "I bet once Lisa sees you, she'll be more than happy to come back home-"

"Lincoln, you still have to, like, check up on Mom, remember?" Leni pointed out, getting the boy's attention. "And remember, she's dealing with one of the most hardest changes a Loud, or any human being, could ever hope to face: Learning Math!"

"Poor Mom, I feel so sorry for her," Lynn remarked, shaking her head with a sad look. "I mean, Math in general isn't really used all that often in life, so she's basically trying to learn something trivial at best, pointless at worst."

"I'll go see how she's doing," Lincoln stated. "You all should keep trying to work on your habits."

The sisters nodded, and they went to their bedrooms while Lincoln went downstairs to the kitchen, where he saw his Mother, Rita, trying to solve some Math problems.

"Hi Mom," the boy greeted as he walked to the woman. "How's the Math doing?"

"I wish I could say it was going good," Rita sighed and glanced at the oven. "I already ordered several pizzas for the house in advance, just in case you're wondering what we'll have for lunch. I've been trying to solve these Math problems, but no matter how hard I try, I can't keep focus long enough to remember what I was doing!

"You know, I had the same problem as you one time, when I was having trouble trying to pay attention in class," Lincoln remarked, putting both his arms behind his head as he added, "It turned out the reason I was having trouble paying attention, was because I was being distracted thanks to Mrs. DiMartino, my Spanish substitute teacher. But the point is, I think you have the same problem I once had."

Rita raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "I have a crush on a sexy female Spanish teacher?"

One look of "are you serious?" later, Lincoln bluntly answered, "No."

"Oh thank goodness, I was hoping you would say no," Rita sighed in relief. "I mean, I don't think Lynn would mind if I was a woman who swung both ways, but-"

"What I'm trying to say is that you need to focus a bit more," Lincoln sat next to the woman. "Here, I'll sit next to you and help you solve these problems, okay?"

Rita looked at Lincoln in surprise, then smiled and hugged him before saying "thank you" in a quiet tone. The boy returned the hug, and then the pair started to work on the problems. And as he taught the woman what she needed to do, Lincoln felt a warm, satisfactory feeling in his gut.

Maybe, just maybe, this plan was going to work after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Finally, the day had arrived: The day Lisa would return to the Loud house to determine whether her sisters-and Lincoln-actually changed for the better, and whether it was worth returning to the household or not. And it wasn't long before things kicked into high gear, since moments after breakfast, Lincoln heard the door being knocked, and opened it to find Lisa standing outside.

"Hi Lisa," Lincoln greeted. "Nice to see you again after a month."

"It's good to be back, I guess," Lisa shrugged. "So, how did our siblings do with the whole "work out their bad habits" deal? I know I'll come face to face with the answer in a moment, but I'd like to hear what you think."

Lincoln crouched down and brushed Lisa's hair. "Well, they tried as hard as they could in the short time they got. I like to think that, at the very least, you'll notice a notable difference."

"I hope so, too. It's for our family's own good," Lisa looked around. "So, who should we see first?"

"Yeah, who do we see first?"

The duo turned around as Darcy walked in and went to Lisa's side, with the prodigy explaining soon afterwards, "Oh, right, sorry I forgot to mention this, Lincoln, but Darcy insisted on coming along with me to help me judge whether it's worth returning here or not."

"She didn't have to do it, though," Lincoln frowned.

"Again, she insisted, and after thinking about it, I saw it as the best course of action," Lisa wrapped an arm around Darcy's shoulder. "After all, unlike me, Darcy has no real experience with any of my sisters; This is more or less the first time she'll meet them, so her first impressions will be with the changed sisters, assuming they changed at all."

Lincoln folded his arms. "Oh trust me, Lisa, our sisters did their very hardest to change for the better. You might find them to be a bit different than when you left."

Lisa and Darcy raised their eyebrows, and Lincoln took this as a sign that they needed to see the sisters for themselves first. And so, he started the tour through the house, and went straight into Lori and Leni's bedroom, one of the most dreaded rooms to barge into the house. However, this time, it felt relatively calm, specially since Lori was talking with somebody at the moment.

"Making sure we check up on Lori first is a decent idea, Lincoln," Lisa remarked as the kids walked towards Lori. "After all, not only is her habit a fairly common one, but given how prevalent it is, it should be relatively easy to find out whether she truly has changed or not."

Once the kids reached Lori, the young woman quickly noticed them, then turned back to her phone, "Call you later, Bobby, I have something to take care of first."

Lori hung up, saved her phone, and turned her attention to the kids. "Hi, Lisa, nice to see you again. Do you need something?"

"You actually put the call on hold to pay attention to me?" Lisa scratched the back of her head. "The old Lori would've never done that. Or at least, she would've said she would, but wind up forgetting about it."

"Well, get used to it, sis, because I'm literally a brand new Lori," the eldest sister stated with pride. "Granted, the one thing I changed the most is my phone addiction, but hey, that's still a big part of me, right?"

"Right..." Lisa looked at the ground with worry, before looking up and asking, "H-How's Leni doing?"

"She's over there, making some clothes like usual," Lori pointed at Leni, who was doing exactly that. "It seems to calm her down, at least, from what I know."

Lisa hummed to herself. "Checking Leni next might be difficult, because her habit's more of a psychological one, rather than a physical one."

"It's still worth a shot." Darcy argued.

Lisa smiled and nodded in agreement before she, her friend, and brother walked to Leni's side and caught her attention, prompting her to stop her sewing and focus on Lisa. "Hi, Lisa, I, like, didn't knew you had arrived."

"I decided to make my return a low-key one, because lord knows what would happen if everybody knew I was back," Lisa replied. "Anyway, go back to your sewing if you want, we can still talk if needed-"

"Well, the thing is that I can't exactly talk with you, while also sewing something," Leni scratched the back of her head. "If I tried, I could end up messing something up with the thing I'm sewing, so, I'm not going to try that."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Leni, what's your favorite color?"

"Well, I'd usually just go with "zebra," but that's a fashion term, and it'll make me sound dumber to you," Leni argued, scratching her chin as she thought about it. "So, let's just say I like black and white. There's just something about the fact that their combination can make some rather nice looking clothing that catches my eye."

Lisa remained silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and quickly left the room, leaving behind a confused Leni, and a concerned Lincoln and Darcy. She immediately went to Luan and Luna's bedroom, where the first thing she noticed was that Luna was nowhere to be seen. She took a quick look around, and eventually spotted some musical notes coming from the garage outside.

"Luna's at the garage, huh?" Lisa said to herself as she took a couple steps back. "Well, at least she's still mostly normal. Or, I hope she's mostly normal, at least."

"Surprising, isn't it?"

Lisa flinched and turned around to see Luan standing by her side. "Luan, don't tell me you took over Lucy's job of popping out of nowhere to scare people!"

"Nah, but she's started doing classes related to that," Luan replied, throwing a wink at Lisa before quipping, "Let's just say, she makes a killing on Halloween!"

Lisa, possessing intelligence as to know was decent comedy was, obviously didn't laugh at the joke. "I don't get it."

"That's fine," Luan took a deep breath. "It's something I came up right now, so it needs some touches to truly make it hilarious."

Lisa blinked twice, and stared intently at Luan as she waited for her characteristic laugh. But instead, the comedian put up a nervous smile and asked, "Is there something wrong with my looks?"

The prodigy didn't respond, she simply left the room, and walked straight to the next one, which just so happened to be Lucy and Lynn's bedroom. Unfortunately for the scientist, she could plainly see Lucy reading a book, so she basically lost the chance to be scared by her appearing out of nowhere, like she usually did.

Lynn wasn't around, however, so the scientist got an idea and took a deep breath before saying, "Lynn, I know you're there, don't worry about me being scared by you."

The athlete, who was about to sneak her way out, stopped on her tracks and entered the room, where she walked to Lisa's side and brushed her hair as she said, "Hi Lisa, how are you doing?"

"Well, so far, I've seen some changes in the household and... I don't know why, but something just doesn't feel... right," Lisa answered, twiddling her fingers as she looked elsewhere. "I mean, there have been changes to the habits that bothered me before, that I'll admit. However, the fact that our sisters are acting so differently as well... unnerves and disturbs me."

"Why?" Lynn bluntly asked. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes... but also, no?" Lisa scratched the back of her head. "I just wanted you to get rid of your bad habits, that's it. But these apparent behavioral changes, though maybe somewhat expected concerning the nature of some of the habits, still caught me off-guard."

And then Lisa realized who she was talking with. "In fact..."

Lisa looked around the room for a moment, then spotted some crumbled up balls of paper in the garbage bin, probably some failed poems from Lucy. And luckily enough, in that moment, Lucy turned to a notebook nearby, read something, then ripped off the page and crumbled it into a ball before throwing it away, allowing Lisa to quickly catch it before she turned to Lynn and threw it over her head.

The idea was for Lynn to chase after the ball and use it like a baseball, or futball, or anything as long as it turned into a sport, proving Lynn still had that habit. However, the jock just stood in place, shivering as she held herself back from chasing the ball.

"S-See? I didn't turn it into a sport!" Lynn answered, twiddling her fingers as she regained her composure. "Nothing to worry about, right?"

"No, Lynn!" Lisa snapped, angrily stomping her way out of the room as she added, "Quite the contrary!"

Lisa immediately stomped her way to the twins' bedroom, and if seeing Lola with a pair of reading glasses didn't make her terrified, if a little bit flattered, then the sheer... empty sensation of the room without so many of Lana's pets certainly did. Even the household's main pets joining in didn't do anything to fix the issue.

Nevertheless, this was the last room Lisa had to check, since Lily probably wouldn't have change during the month because, well, she was a baby, what could she do or change about the situation? So she walked forward to Lola, who was so engrossed on the book she was currently reading, she didnt even turn or notice Lisa's presence.

Not that the toddler prodigy minded this. She quickly walked to Lana, who was sulking on a corner. Just like Lola, she didnt even notice Lisa, but unlike Lola, this failure to notice her made the toddler worried, rather than relieved.

"G-Greetings, Lana," Lisa nervously spoke.

The plumber didnt respond.

"I noticed that some of your pets-"

Suddenly, Lana started sobbing, startling the prodigy into shutting up. Lisa realized in that moment her poor choice of words, but the damage was already done, and, being honest, the scientist was scared of saying something that would make the situation more sour.

So she saved her hands on her pockets and left the room, feeling both saddened and guilty because, one way or another, she was responsible for the change. And yes, this change was something that was needed, even absolutely necessary in some cases, but the prodigy never expected it to have such an effect on her sisters.

She didn't have time to think about what to do, though, since the next thing she knew, the prodigy found herself at the kitchen, where she spotted her Mother reading a Math book.

"Mother unit, what are you doing?" Lisa inquired as she took a seat next to the woman. "I don't wanna propagate gender stereotypes, but shouldn't you be doing dinner by now?"

"Okay, first off, your dad's the one who cooks in this house, not me, remember?" Rita answered, focusing solely on her book. "And secondly, you said it yourself young lady: I need to get my math stuff together."

"I don't think that's what I said."

"But it's the main thing I got, so I gotta fix it somehow."

"And what about dinner?"

"I already ordered a couple pizzas."

"There's 11 of us, mom."

"I said pizzas. Plural."

Having nothing else to add, the toddler left the kitchen, and saw none other than her siblings-and Darcy-at the living room.

"So, what do you say, Lisa?" Lincoln asked. "Are you coming back home?"

The scientist toddler turned to face her family, who were smiling with hope, and then turned to Darcy, who not only smiled in a similar fashion, but also nodded. She then turned back to Lincoln, who looked the most hopeful out of everybody, and with one look of his eyes, Lisa closed her eyes, shook a bit...

Then ran away to the backyard as hard as she could.

Stunned, everybody remained frozen in place as they tried to figure out what the heck happened, and why Lisa did what she did. The only one who wasn't like this was Lincoln, who stated "I'll... go see if she's okay" before he ran to his second youngest sister's side.

After looking for her for a while, Lincoln found Lisa sitting underneath the tree at the backyard, looking... conflicted. So he walked to and sat by her side, with the prodigy trying her best not to notice him.

"So, how does it feel to see our sisters have changed?" Lincoln inquired, brushing the prodigy's hair.

"To be honest, it feels kinda weird," Lisa twiddled her fingers. "After spending so much time, years even, with the sisters who had those bad habits, it feels so... off-putting, to have those habits suddenly disappear. And the worst part of it is, I don't know whether it would be better if this remained temporary or not."

The last statement caught Lincoln's attention. "What do you mean if it "Remained" temporary?"

"Lincoln, I'm sorry if I sound a bit condescending, but you should know our sisters well enough to know how things usually work around here: Once they succeed in getting me to come back, they'll immediately forget everything they learned and go back to how they used to be, forgetting whatever lesson they learned in the process."

"Lisa-"

"Don't even try to deny it, Lincoln, that's how things have been in this household for years! Every time a Loud accomplishes something and learns a lesson from it, they suddenly forget about the lesson the very next day!" Lisa retorted. "Our sisters forget their lessons, you forget your lessons, even I myself have forgotten my lessons! The only difference is that you and I actually acknowledge how we've forgotten said lessons. But, our sisters-"

"Lisa, look, I understand that you may feel frustrated about this whole situation, but look at the bright: There's a chance that this time, the lesson will stick, and if it does, everything will change for the better!" Lincoln put a hand on the prodigy's shoulder. "So please, can you have a bit more faith in them?"

"Can I? I mean, for crying out loud, it took Lynn _two freaking years_ to learn that it's more important to have fun in a game, rather than win it!" Lisa replied sternly. "And I'm willing to bet that the moment she doesn't need to remember that anymore, even that lesson will poof out of her mind like a brain fart! And we both know how gassy she can be with her body, I wouldn't be surprised if she was equally gassy with her mind."

Lincoln looked at the ground somberly. "Lisa, is there anything I can tell you that will make you be a bit more optimistic about this?"

Lisa folded her arms and looked away, mostly so Lincoln didn't see her start to cry.

"Is there something _we_ can do?"

Lisa and Lincoln turned around and saw the rest of the family approaching them, all sporting worried looks.

"M-Mother... unit?" Lisa asked as Rita walked to her and crouched down to her size. "What do you mean by that?"

"Lisa, listen up: As a mother, one of my biggest fears is to lose one of my children, specially if I lose them because of something that I could've done differently," Rita shed a couple tears. "These past few weeks, not only I, but the rest of your siblings were completely terrified that whatever we did wouldn't be enough to get you back."

Lisa herself started to shed tears as well as Rita continued, "Sure, the fact we're so numerous could make people think that losing just one of us wouldn't affect us. Heck, if Luan had remained the same sort of jokester she used to be, she probably would've joked that your dad and I just had to make another child."

Luan flinched, but remained silent as she clutched her chest and held back her tears. For some reason, she couldn't tell whether it hurt that her mother thought that was the case, or that, deep down, it probably would've been the case.

"The house just wouldn't be the same thing without you, Lisa," Rita sniffed, putting up a weak smile. "So, if there's anything we need to do to get you to come back, we'll do it. You want us to get you some uranium? We'll see if we can find it. You want us to help you revive Trashy? We'll see what we can do. But there's one thing we can't do, no matter what."

Lincoln walked to Lisa's side, crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder as he finished his mother's sentence for her:

"And that is to stand back and watch as we lose you."

Lisa started sniffing and shedding even more tears as she uttered:

"I want..."

She glanced at Lincoln, who gave her a reassuring look.

"I... want..."

She glanced at the rest of her family, who also sported reassuring looks as they waited for her answer. Although, Lisa remained silent for a while...

And then, she hugged her mother, and cried:

"I wany my family!"

Lisa planted her face on her mother's chest as she cried out loud, prompting Rita to hug her to comfort her, which was followed by the rest of the siblings joining on the hug as well. And then Lynn Sr. arrived as well, simply because.

 _Sometime Later..._

"So, was the plan a success, or was it a failure?" Lincoln asked. "I mean, the point was to change our sisters' bad habits, but when that was said and done, you decided you didn't want them to change. How should we take this?"

"Don't think about it too much, Lincoln," Lisa replied. "Changing the habits is good, that part will never bother me. But having our sisters change as well in order to make the message remain... it just feels too uncomfortable."

Lincoln frowned. "So, you're not coming back?"

Lisa turned to face her brother and smiled as she said:

"I will... On one condition."


	10. Chapter 10

**And now, the grand finale for "Darcy or Family," which I should've done a looooong time ago. I apologize for the long wait, and I assure you, I appreciate you being patient enough to wait for the finale.**

 **And since this isn't the only story I got on hiatus, I'll try to get those other stories finished too, before I start the cycle all over again XD**

 **Anyway, let's go, to the finale and beyond!**

* * *

"I don't know what you did, but as long as you're happy, I'm happy too!"

Those were the words uttered by Darcy before she and her mother left the Loud House, with Lisa, Rita, and Lynn Sr. waving goodbye as they left.

And as soon as they closed the door, the rest of their children ran back downstairs.

"So, what happened?" Lori asked. "Is Lisa staying or leaving?"

The siblings crossed their fingers and whispered "Please stay" repeatedly as the parents answered:

"We reached an agreement with Darcy's parents," Rita answered. "Every 15 days, starting next week, Lisa will spend the weekend at Darcy's house instead of ours, as long as they can do that, of course."

"That way, she can have a short break from all of our bad habits," Lynn Sr. spoke in relief. "And she can spend some more time with her new friend."

"What about the habits themselves?" Lynn asked.

Lisa waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Keep them if you want, but tone them down a bit."

The siblings gasped and exchanged confused looks as Lincoln grabbed Lisa and took her to his bedroom.

"Is something wrong, Lincoln?" the prodigy innocently asked, tilting her head.

"Lisa, you know, we really could've used with getting rid of our bad habits," Lincoln said. "Are you sure you want to let us keep them?"

"I came to realize something, once I saw you acting the way you did; You weren't the same family I was born to," Lisa took a deep breath. "You were way too different, and we both felt uncomfortable with such a drastic change, so undoing said changes was the best choice."

Lisa adjusted her glasses. "Besides, I'm only letting you keep the habits as long as you tone them down."

And then, she turned to look at her brother. "And not _all_ of those habits are remaining, anyway."

Just then, Lola, still wearing her glasses, arrived. "Hey, Lisa, we're about to watch a movie at the living room, wanna come?"

"Sure, I'll be there in a moment," The scientist raised an eyebrow. "By the way, how are the glasses working out for you?"

"Much better than I expected," Lola smiled. "Several of my classmates complimented them, even my pageant rivals."

Lisa smiled with satisfaction. "That's good to hear."

The guy and his sisters left the room and walked downstairs as Lisa asked, "So, what movie are we watching?"

Lola shrugged. "I dunno, Mom and Dad didn't tell me what it was."

Along the way, the trio ran into Lana, who was playing with Charles, Cliff, Waltz, and Geo.

"Lana, you're playing with the family pets, I see," Lisa remarked, getting the tomboy's attention. "I thought you were still sad about... You know what."

"I was, but then Charles, Waltz, Geo, and Cliff came to comfort me, and they made me realize, that I never needed all the animals I adopted," Lana answered as she rubbed Charles' and Cliff's bellies. "These guys right here need my affection as much as everybody else, and I believe it's time I give them what they've been missing."

And then Lana's pet frog jumped into her shoulder. "And besides, if I can't play with them, I'll just focus on Hops."

Lisa smiled and nodded in agreement, and she went onwards to check Luna and Luan's bedroom, while Lincoln and Lola continued walking until they noticed Lisa's absence.

"Lisa, the living room's-" Lola exclaimed.

Lincoln stopped her. "Let her see our sisters are doing."

Back with Lisa, the girl saw Luan sitting on her stage, writing some stuff down, while Luna was lightly headbanging while wearing headphones.

Lisa promptly walked to the comedian. "What are you doing, Luan?"

"I'm writing down some jokes to tell them to myself later," Luan answered, focusing solely on her notes. "I realized there are some jokes that make even me cringe, so to be safe, I'll write down whatever joke comes to mind, then see how cringy it is."

Luan then pointed at Luna. "And Luna is hearing music over there; Don't worry, she'll try to tone down her accent starting today."

"Those are good news," Lisa walked to the door. "Well, I'll leave you to your stuff."

Both sisters waved goodbye, and Lisa went to Lori and Leni's bedroom, but not before knocking first.

"Come in!"

Lisa entered, and found Leni trying to sew something, while Lori was doing something on her phone.

Obviously, Lisa went to Lori first. "Eldest sister, are you chatting with your boyfriend again?"

"Nah, he's busy at work, and even then he has other stuff, so I can't call him anytime I want anymore," Lori answered. I'm instead seeing what else I can do with my phone: Take selfies, watch videos, hear music, surf the internet-I honestly thought it was just good for calling Bobby!"

"Yeah, that was weird," Lisa snickered, then went to Leni. "And what are you doing, second oldest sibling?"

Leni raised an eyebrow, and Lisa corrected herself: "I mean, Leni."

"Well, I'm sewing a sweater for both you and Darcy, to commemorate both sides getting a happy ending," Leni took a deep breath. "I totes was having trouble not saying "like" during that whole sentence."

"You can say "like" if you want, sister," Lisa folded her arms. "You don't have to outright quit saying it."

"It never hurts to, like, try it out, you know?" and then Leni realized what she said. "Dang it."

Shortly after, Leni brushed Lisa's hair. "Anyway, It's totes good to have you back, Lisa."

Lisa smiled. "And it feels good to be back, too."

The little scientist left and headed for Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, only to find both of them at the hallway, the latter helping the former do some push-ups.

"Lucy's training?" Lisa inquired. "As in, _physically_ training?"

"Yeah, by choice," Lynn stated before revealing a pamphlet. "And in exchange, she'll help me practice for when reading becomes an official sport."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "But reading doesn't-"

Lynn quickly shushed her. "Quiet! She's trying to trick me into reading more often!"

Lynn winked with a knowing smile, and went downstairs, where she found Lincoln and Lola sitting on the couch, with the parents finishing setting up the movie.

And as soon as the parents finished, they sat on the couch and noticed Lisa.

"Oh hi sweetie, we'll start the movie soon," Lynn Sr. said. "And before you ask, yes, I'll try to stay at home a bit more often from now on."

"That's good to know," Lisa turned to her mother. "And how are your math issues coming along, Mother Unit?"

"My math is doing... Fine," Rita hesitated. "Yeah, let's say it's fine."

Lisa smirked. "What is 1 + -1?"

Rita's silence and nervous smile spoke for themselves.

"It's okay if you don't know, Mother Unit," Lisa stated. "Take your time. For now, let's just relax."

"I agree," Rita sighed in relief, then shouted, "Hey, kids! We're about to start the movie!"

The rest of the siblings bolted downstairs and sat on the couch, with Lisa right in the middle of the family sandwich.

"We're sorry if it's a little tight," Lori said. "I suggested that some of us could sit down, but everybody wanted to be near you."

"It's okay," Lisa answered as the movie started playing. "As long as I'm with my family, I'm happy."

The rest of the family went "Aaw!" and they exchanged a hug with Lisa before they watched the movie, relieved, and satisfied.


End file.
